Ever wish that you could say what you really feel about something going on in Klal? Ever wonder just why Klal acts/thinks the way it does? Here members of Klal can have the conversations they should be having but that aren't happening elsewhere, except, perhaps, in whispered conversations in dark corners. Say what you mean here, and let us hope that some conversation now will lead to changes later, some changes that are long overdue in Klal.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

A List of the Labels

I've mentioned before that when I was growing up there were basically three designations for religious observance: frum, chasidish, not frum. Somehow we all understood what these labels actually stood for. Well, Klal grew and so did the number of labels that are used to describe types of religious observance. I've been asked if there really are so many different labels. I'm asking you to help in putting together a listing of today's labels/designations for observance. Let's see them all in black and white. I'm starting off the list with the offerings below. As you give me other designations I'll add them to the list.MO--modern orthodoxLWMO--left wing modern orthodoxRWMO--right wing modern orthodoxCO--centrist orthodoxMOM--modern orthodox machmirO--orthodoxC--conservativeR--reformF--frumYUMO--Yeshiva University modern orthodoxY--YekkeT--traditionalC--chareidiCL--chareidi lightY--yeshivishL-litvishC--chasidisheYI--Young Israel typeBA--Bnai Akiva typeFFB--frum from birthBT--baal teshuvahBTFB--born into baal teshuva family and frum from birthH--heimisheOOTF--out of town frum

18 comments:

Anonymous
said...

You can add:

OP - OrthopraxReconstructionistH- Humanist

and of course, within chassidic you can add a couple of dozen. Even within a particular branch of chassidism, you could break it down further. For example, within Lubavitch, you can get messicist and non-mesichist.

Ultimately, you can break it down so far until everyone is in a group of one. I'm not quite sure the point of this exercise, although it is human nature to try to label and categorize since its one of the ways the mind tries to make sense of a chaotic world.

You have the general labels used a lot in shidduchim of L=Learners and E=Earners.Lots of people who think they know how and what type of religious someone is based on those two labels for a guy and which one a girl chooses.

There's probably a dozen or more labels within the non-Orthodox camp as well: I don't know the Reform movement well, but the Conservative movement has jumped on the "sub-group" bandwagon quite strongly. There's the egalitarian subset, the "drive to shul on shabbat" subset, the academic subset, etc.

I've never heard of YUMO before, though: from my experience, YU students run the gamut from charedi to LWMO.

I don't have enough words to describe my antipathy for these labels (certainly when it comes to shidduch selections), but I do think that they reflect a growing complexity/diversity in our hashkafic outlooks. Many hashkafic views that were once inherently linked have now become decoupled, so that a person's view on Zionism is not necessarily a good indicator of his views on secular culture, secular education, or women's issues (as an example).

This is also a very American-centric list. Israeli hashkafot are going through a similar subdivision, with categories like Dati Leumi, Chardal, B'nei Akiva, Masorati, etc. having philosophies that are not really echoed by any American hashkafah.

Efrex, it's scarey enough just thinking of how many groups we have here in the US and then look at how Israel is dividing itself. And i imagine that other countries with Jewish populations, like England, also have their labels and divisions that might not fit exactly with the ones here.

When we moved to Jersey a few people from shul eventually told me that they were happy that I wasn't as 'Brooklyny' as they thought I might be. I remember telling them that Brooklyn was too broad a label. To be accurate they had to talk about Boro Park or Flatbush or Williamsburg. Since we originally lived in Flatbush, one of the people joked that I must be Flatbush Light or Flatbush Left Wing.

It's a lot easier to give my political philosophy and label myself politically--and that's not all that easy--then to give someone a meaningful label to put on me to describe me as a Jew.

Not sure how you spell this but back in the day we used to talk about some people as being "far chnyohked"--I guess overly strict or full of every chumra defines it. It wasn't a compliment and people sure did not want to have this label.

Today we don't use that label anymore but there are groups with other more modern labels that fit the description. Only today they aren't considered outside of the norm. A whole lot of those people consider themselves as the norm and the rest of us are out of step.

I'll add this label that I've heard--shteeble people. Apparently for some davening in a shteeble as opposed to a 'big' shul indicates some kind of hashkafic or religious difference.

Trudy: The term "chnyok" is still used to describe an overly sanctimonious frummach, at least in my circles (The Ashkenazi MO community really must take back Yiddish; it's an absolute disgrace that the most expressive language in our history has fallen into such disuse).

You also left off T for Traditional. Just looking at all these labels--and I don't think we are near all of them yet--is tgiving me a headache.

Lion I can tell you at least one thing that btfb will tell those who care about these things. If the birth parents are bt that doesn't mean that the grandparents are also bt or even frum to begin with. So for some, they don't want to start out a shidduch with a family that is this mixed in observance. They expect perfect going back for generations.

i can understand (but completely disagree) why people might reject a BT as a shidduch because of family "baggage" that comes with non religious parents. but because someone's grandparents aren't religious?

anyway, i hope they don't go back too far when investigating, because they might realize who avraham avinu's and sarah imenu's parents were

About Me

I'm a wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend. I believe that activism can be a force for change. I blog because I believe that an exchange of information can be a positive force in the Jewish world. For comments about Conversations In Klal please write to conversationsinklal@hotmail.com. For comments about Jewish Community Services please write to jewishcommunityservices@live.com